


Some Watson Prose

by You_Light_The_Sky



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Editors and Writers, Ducks, Fluff, M/M, Translation Available, Перевод на русский | Translation in Russian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-26 19:20:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10793106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/You_Light_The_Sky/pseuds/You_Light_The_Sky
Summary: “It’s garbage,” says Sherlock.“There’s a duck on your desk,” John says again, because if this bloke is allowed to say something out of the blue as soon as John comes into his office than John can too.Originally posted on tumblr: http://youlighttheskyfanfiction.tumblr.com/post/105055155036/12-with-a-duck-somewhere-please-hugsSee 'Works Inspired by this one' to find Russian Translation





	Some Watson Prose

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on tumblr and I found it again when I was looking through my old drabbles. I think we could all use some fluff.

“It’s garbage,” says Sherlock.

“There’s a duck on your desk,” John says again, because if this bloke is allowed to say something out of the blue as soon as John comes into his office than John can too.

Sherlock waves him off. “My brother’s prank. I’m gutting it later,” John twitches and wonders if he can get away with rescuing the poor thing. He’s always liked ducks. “Don’t bother,” says Sherlock, reading John’s thoughts from his face again, “That thing’s quacks will bother your neighbours.”

John just shrugs. Fuck the neighbours.

“So, what is exactly this ‘garbage’ again?” because one never knows with Sherlock.

“This!” Sherlock throws a thick wad of paper down on the floor and John gingerly picks it up.

“What’s wrong with this? I thought Donovan’s proposal for a cop series mixed with Native mythology was really good, handles a lot of themes that we tend to ignore. There should be more of this in the market.”

“Dull,” Sherlock throws a dart at the duck. Luckily the poor thing (Wendell, John decides it will be) flaps away and lands by John’s shoulder, much to John’s surprise, and even nests there. Sherlock just seethes.

“ _Sherlock_ ,” John crosses his arms. “There’s nothing wrong with magical realism.”

“Trivial.”

“Or metaphor.”

“Just say it what you _mean_ , no need to make it _pretty!_ ”

“Oh for god’s sake, why are you even an editor if you can’t deal with narratives that have human emotion in them? We can’t just publish cold logical mysteries and textbooks about tobacco all the time. We have a _fiction_ department for a reason!”

“To find books that are actually interesting!”

“I’m putting this back in our ‘yes’ pile and I’ll call Donovan tomorrow to confirm that her manuscript is being picked up and you are going to give that duck to me, yes Sherlock, and then you’re going to go home and actually get some rest and maybe tomorrow you’ll be a little more charitable to the poor writers who come to your publishing company in the hopes of being hired, yes?” John says sweetly.

“Well if _certain writers_ would publish, then we wouldn’t have this problem!”

“Right then.”

Before Sherlock can protest, John guides him to the door.

-

John sets Wendell down by the carpet while Sherlock storms into the kitchen to fiddle with his chemistry set. Wendell quacks amiably at John before waddling off to find little insects to eat (speaking of which, John really hopes that Sherlock got rid of that box of worms.)

They’ve been living together for a year now, since no one would tolerate the infamous editor Sherlock Holmes and his temper and no one would hire an ex-army-doctor who couldn’t use his hands without shaking near surgical equipment. So John wrote instead, random stories here and there and Harry suggested he become an editor’s assistant.

He never thought he’d last this long, to be honest. Sherlock is intense… but he’s also a fucking brilliant man and writer. John remembers the first time he read one of Sherlock Holmes’ books about a beekeeper solving crimes in the countryside. Some of the greatest and most unpredictable twists were in that series but it was dropped. More of an episodic thing where the main character, Ben Cho, never really developed beyond his cold and sociopathic persona. None of the secondary characters were treated very well either… more enamoured of Cho or fearful of him. All episodic characters with no change to the overall arc (if there was one… which… now that John thinks about it… there wasn’t.)

Sherlock made a lot of money from that series, especially the first two books. It’s probably how he saved enough (without bothering Mycroft) to start his own publishing company, determined to find ‘real literature’ out there. But the reviews for the series as a whole were… lukewarm, at best. Cho is static. There’s no overall arc, etcetera and etcetera. No emotional connect, why should we care about Cho when all he does is verbally abuse others? And more like that.

Honestly, John suspects Sherlock stopped writing the Beekeeper series because he was bored of it, not the critics.

It’s a shame, John’s a great fan. He’s never told Sherlock but Sherlock probably knows. That man knows everything.

John’s even written some fanfiction, if you can call it that, of the Beekeeper series. Just a continuation from where the books left off with some original characters of his own and a return of all the other one-off characters in the original series. He’s expanded on Cho’s backstory, made him closer to (admittedly, a self-insert) Joanna Ramirez, a trans woman and cop; they even solve crimes together and are trying to figure out who’s been leaving white roses near all of Cho’s cases (a detail John noticed but decided to make important.) He’s planning to make the villain Ramirez’s girlfriend Mona Blanche… and maybe even make a romance subplot between Cho and Ramirez. He’s not sure yet.

Maybe because he’s not sure of Sherlock and himself.

It’s embarrassing and stupid, channeling his feelings into something like this, a fanfiction he hasn’t dared to post online or show Sherlock.

Anyways, he’s thinking of dropping it. Sherlock’s not interested, clearly, and John is a shitty writer. He’s stuck on how Cho should react to Ramirez being strapped to bomb and hasn’t been able to write for a month.

He sighs, going to get something to feed Wendell and maybe coax Sherlock into eating.

-

“Honestly, what’s been bothering you lately? You’ve been snapping at interns left and right and rejecting perfectly good authors for no reason.”

Sherlock glares at him. His food is still untouched.

“The silent treatment? Really?” Sometimes John thinks he’s living with a five-year old diagnosed with a superiority complex.

“Stop doing that,” Sherlock snaps.

John blinks. “Doing what?”

“That!” Sherlock throws his arms in the air. “Acting oblivious! Like you don’t _know_ why I’m _bothered!_ ”

“Um, no. I don’t. In case you haven’t realized, I don’t actually live in your head and I do not know what’s going on unless you _tell_ me.”

Sherlock scowls.

John waits.

“The story!”

John pales. “What story?”

“ _Your_ story!”

What—

Oh god.

“You _read it?!_ ”

“Please, I know all your passwords. They’re ridiculously easy to crack. More importantly, what happens to Joanna? Blanche is obviously M and, of course, Cho will have tracked Joanna down and is probably at the pool now, so it’s only a matter of whether or not the bomb will explode before—”

“Wait..!” John puts up his hand, “…wait. So… you _like it?_ ”

Sherlock gives him an unimpressed scoff.

“Why else would I bother to read it?”

Wendell, the traitor, gives an agreeing quack.

“B-but… there’s emotions! And… and flowery prose! And sometimes I hint at magical realism with the bees and Joanna’s crappy piano playing and… and… you _like it?_ ”

Sherlock stiffens and turns his head. “It’s tolerable. Now, the next chapter? Is it written?”

“Oh. Um… no.”

“ _No?_ No?! It’s been a month!”

“Oh shove off, don’t tell me you’ve never had writer’s block! I just have no bloody idea how to make Cho react to Ramirez in danger!”

“Well he goes to save her, of course!”

John’s mouth falls open and he can’t help but stare and feel like he’s seeing all of Sherlock for the first time. From the slight pink of Sherlock’s face and his intense eyes and unkempt appearance he…

“You mean… he cares?”

Sherlock scowls, ready to rant, when he pauses. Maybe seeing in John, what John sees now in Sherlock. Sherlock’s hand twitches before he sets it on top of John’s and says delicately, “Contrary to prior proclamations… yes.”

Heat fills John’s face and he can’t help it.

He kisses him.

And to his surprise, Sherlock kisses back.

-

Next year, the media goes crazy over Sherlock Holmes’ return to the Beekeeper series, calling the latest installment a masterpiece that shows how friendship helps heal and critiques society’s views of the LGBT community.

 _A Study in Ink_ , by Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.

Dedicated, surprisingly, to fanfiction and ducks.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Почеркушки Уотсона](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11480391) by [ValdaVermillion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValdaVermillion/pseuds/ValdaVermillion)




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